Paper short abstract:

The IBC research group has been working for a decade to understand the social dimension of different types of pain. In this work, we present an ongoing project in which we are learning about the different perceptions that exist across countries and cultural differences.

Paper long abstract:

It is as important to learn about human pain as it is to know the origins and the remedies used to take care of illnesses. There is a common understanding of pain as a multidimensional and complex concept, involving physical, psychological and social factors.

The theoretical background of this project explores how national health systems, religion and social values, socio-economic vulnerability, economic model (neoliberal, welfare, etc.), health resources (public/ private system, accessibility, etc.) and gender regimes may play a role in the subjective and social perception of pain. We foresee that these findings will reveal synergies between these dimensions, that would explain patterns and relationalities rooted in the social structure of pain.

By exploring the theoretical framework of these structural dimensions, the IBC research team seeks to contribute to the investigation of the extent to which pain is homogeneous/heterogeneous depending on social factors and local conditions for certain types of problems (e.g. back pain, migraine and death of a family member). Subjective and social patterns, which may vary in local and global contexts, are ignored by the biomedical model of pain management. The literature examination seeks to understand the entanglement of the local and the global, to understand how social structure shapes human pain and how the biomedical approach (un)fits with cultural diversity.